For the fourth year in a row, Ronaldo is not nominated for the Ballon d'Or at all

For the fourth year in a row, Ronaldo has not been nominated for the Ballon d'Or at all football Express newspaper For the fourth consecutive year, Cristiano Ronaldo's name was missing when "France Football" published the list of candidates for the 2026 Ballon d'Or in the men's category. The Portuguese superstar has won the award five times, second only to his old rival, Lionel Messi, who has won the trophy on eight occasions. But while the Argentine has managed to get back into the running for the award after a fantastic World Cup, Ronaldo's Ballon d'Or days seem to be long behind him. The former Real Madrid and Manchester United striker hasn't been nominated for the award since 2022 and is now 41, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that he's no longer in the running. However, there are certainly some who are surprised. The year 2022 was, of course, the last time Ronaldo played in one of Europe's elite leagues, with his tense departure from United occurring just before the World Cup in Qatar that year. He has continued to score at a high rate with Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, but has never received a Ballon d'Or nomination since moving to the Middle East. In contrast, his Al Nassr teammate Sadio Mané and Al Qadsiah's Julián Quiñones are both nominated for this year's award. Meanwhile, Messi returns to the list for the first time since 2023, when he also left Europe to join Inter Miami and MLS. Of course, the Argentina captain won the award that year thanks to his performances with the national team at the 2022 World Cup. And it was precisely his performances with the national team that were key to his nomination again, as he was not on the list of candidates in 2024 and 2025. While Messi scored eight goals and led Argentina to the 2026 World Cup final, Ronaldo's Portugal were eliminated in the round of 16, despite his three goals in the tournament. The Al Nassr striker failed to score at the 2024 European Championship, which almost certainly ended any hopes he might have had of winning a sixth Ballon d'Or. Despite Ronaldo being close to scoring 1,000 goals in official matches, that day will probably never come. /GazetaExpress/